Obe to launch first public cemetery in Oshodi-Isolo LGA soon

By Abolaji Adebayo, Edith Igbokwe, Damilola Kushimo and Olushola Okewole

Not less than six plots of land around Morning Star area in Ejigbo Local Council Development Area will soon be the first final resting place of the dead in Oshodi-Isolo Local Government if negotiations of council chairman, Hon. Monsuru Bello with the land owners go according to plan.

The project will solve the problems faced by the bereaved in the LGA who currently have no alternative than to take their departed ones to the cemeteries of other local governments or private companies for burial.

Expected to be contracted out to private companies with excellent track record in funeral services to maximize the revenue opportunities to the council and ensure proper maintenance and beautiful scenery, the cemetery will have vaults that would cater to the rich and poor.

This would be in line with the current practice among other local governments which have signed memoranda of understanding, (MOU) with private companies to manage their cemeteries.

While Vaults & Gardens, a subsidiary of O la Kleen Group, signed MOU with the Ikoyi- Obalende Local Council Development Area in 2006 to manage 3.7 hectares of Ikoyi Cemetery land for 25 years, Ebony Vaults has an agreement with the Yaba LCDA to run a section of the Atan cemetery.

Both developments created a new trend in burial services attracting the super-rich to the commercialized sections of the private cemeteries.

For instance, Vaults & Gardens created products such as High Density Vaults, Muslim High Density Vaults, Special Low Density Vaults at the Ikoyi cemetery.

Following the patronage, it has opened new sites at Victoria Garden City-Mayfair and Lekki-Epe Expressway.
The patronage is considered the outcome of bad management of the section of the cemetery still under the councils according to a report of the News Agency of Nigeria which investigated the condition of the public cemeteries in Yaba, Epe, Badagry and Ikorodu last year.

Echonews learnt such reports received by the council chairman in coming up with the management of the project favoured going into partnership with professionals with expertise.

The functions of the local government, as stated in Section 1, subsection (c ) of the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution includes the “establishment and maintenance of cemeteries, burial grounds and homes for the destitute or infirm;”
But successive governments have relied on the existence of the nearby Matori cemetery owned by Mushin Local Government and Atan owned by the Lagos Mainland LGA to underestimate the need for a cemetery in the LGA.

Another reason is the use of land for commercial purposes and inadequate allocation of land for such public utilities.
Hon. Monsuru first broke news while addressing reporters at the Lagos State House of Assembly while responding to a question on the rapid rate at which he was embarking on projects.

He said that Ejigbo LCDA, as part of the Oshodi-Isolo LGA, has suffered a lot of neglect in the past and his administration has been making efforts to bring development in the area at par with other parts of the local government area.
The news has been well received by residents who frown at the high rate of graves being created in residential areas because cemeteries are too far or the cost of buying vaults too high.

The average cost of high density vaults in private cemeteries is N6.5milion while Special Low Density is N1.1 million. In the public, less well maintained cemeteries, costs per vault could be as low as N45,000 and as high as 750,000.

This has led the bereaved to bury their dead at home due to lack of burial grounds in the community. In particular, it puts a lot of pressure on Muslims who conduct instant burial rite immediately after the death of their family members.

Speaking on the issue, the former CDC Secretary, Ejigbo LCDA,Comrade Victor Durodola said: “Going down memory lane, about 1970’s, it was heard that Ejigbo once earmarked a portion of land to be a cemetery but we’re not really sure of how true it is or if the land was sold out.

“We don’t have burial ground in Ejigbo LCDA but many bury their dead ones in their houses and that’s the order of the day, people use their houses for burial. And many do not take permit, heath wise, before going ahead to bury the corpse in the house where people are living.

Durodola also made it known that the Igbos, by all means, ensure they take their dead ones back to their village or hometown for burial while some of them use private burial grounds.

The Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ejigbo LCDA, Rev. Stephen Oyinlola, the pastor in charge of Achievers Baptist Church, also confirmed that most people in the community bury the corpses in their houses.

Rev. Oyinlola explained that particularly the Aworis bury their dead ones in their houses as they don’t like taking the corpses of the relatives outside, adding that some of them even bury the corpses in the living room as the case maybe.
He revealed that no church in the community has a private burial ground as many of them also go to Atan, Matori or Mushin cemetery as the case maybe at very expensive rate.

It was gathered that during the administration of the former chairman of Ejigbo LCDA, Hon. Kehinde Bamigbetan, the local council tried to establish a cemetery around Bucknor area and obtained several plots from Pa Almaroof for the purpose but the effort was frustrated by land owners who felt it would devalue the cost of land in the area.

With the prospect of a cemetery, real estate agents expect a boom in the secondary market where built properties change hands.

A member of Estate Rent and Commission Agent Association of Nigeria (ERCAAN) Ago-Okota/Isolo Zone, Mr. Bayo Tomomewo warned on the negativity of having a tomb on a property, emphasising that it deters sales and letting of property.

According to him, if a tomb is on a property it affects it when it (property) is put up for sales or letting later on as the tomb scares clients away. The property will have to lie down for several months because of the tomb on it while it eventually loses its value.

“It is not really advisable to bury loved ones on a property, it is even an olden days thing. In the olden days, most people bury their corpses inside their house and concrete them, leaving no traces; you can’t tell that something of such is there.
“When a property is up for sales, most times people have to exhume corpses from the tomb on a property before they could sell it because no one will want to inherit a tomb of someone he doesn’t know. It devalues the property by tying it down for several months if not years without having a client. It delays income the property will attract and we all know that time is money.”

He, however, emphasised on the importance of burying loved ones in cemetery, stressing that it will save one from the stress of exhuming the corpse when the property is later up for sales.

A Civil Engineer, Yusuf Olatunji also noted a corpse buried at home may be exhumed when such area is affected in a road expansion by the government.

Although it could not be established that burying dead bodies in the residential areas has any health effect on the living, some people have condemned the act based on health hazards.

But, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), contrary to common belief, there is no evidence that corpses pose a risk of epidemic disease after a natural disaster.

“Most agents do not survive long in the human body after death. Human remains only pose a substantial risk to health in a few special cases, such as deaths from cholera or haemorrhagic fevers.” it stated.

Also lending his voice to the need for Muslims to patronize cemeteries,s the Chief Imam of Ejigbo Central Mosque, Imam Sanni Mukaila, said though many people have resorted to burying the dead ones at home since there is no community burial ground in Ejigbo, the act is unislamic.

He said Islam does not support the act of burying corpse at home, noting that it is the Yoruba tradition which everyone has embraced.

He however said he has been enlightening the Muslims to desist from the act as it is against the doctrine of the religion.
“Some Muslims who have known the truth usually look for Islamic burial ground like the one in Agege where the Malams are in charge to bury their dead ones. The orientation is still going on to liberate our people from the act which is against our doctrine and the tenets of Islam,” he said.